Glasgow Youth Festival restructures

Child-friendly programming will see a big cut at the 2015 Glasgow Youth Film Festival (GYFF), in what its organisers have labelled “a radical shake-up.”

GYFF is the only film festival in Europe entirely curated by 15- to 18-year-olds, and for its seventh year organizers have relegated most child-friendly films to the main Glasgow Film Festival in order to focus on “audacious” youth cinema.

The event, which runs from February 6-8, will include the Scottish premiere of sci-fi thrillerThe Signal, which stars Laurence Fishburne and Olivia Cooke, and a special screening of the Channel 4 series Glue ​alongside a Q&A with its cast and crew.

The line-up also includes a world cinema programme, with German thriller For No Eyes Onlyand sci-fi anime Time of Eve.

Local teenagers have worked together over six months to choose the line-up, guests and events at the festival. Sean McInally, 16, said: “Working on the GYFF team has been a fantastic insight into film festival programming, events organisation and the film industry itself.”

Kirsty McKechnie, also 16, said: “Some of the films we’ve chosen address issues faced by young people all over the world; some of them are just great examples of filmmaking involving young people and their concerns.”

The festival also includes masterclasses about writing, directing and filmmaking.

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